Rivet

Rivet

Rivet (Kess Kill, Kontra-Musik, Skudge)

It’s now been a couple of years since Mika Hallbäck emerged on the techno scene as Rivet. But with a history of releasing records and running labels under the Grovskopa moniker since 2001, he is far from a newcomer. After transitioning to Rivet in 2011, he was quickly signed to respected labels Skudge and Kontra-Musik—thanks to his pleasingly organic, arresting and authentic blend of old-school values and new-school techniques, fusing curious samples and found sounds with the synthetic and modern. Full of boisterous, full-blooded charm, his music has a physical, rusty, industrial edge that never fails to get those basements moving.

Just as effective are his wild and borderless DJ sets. He’s graced the most hallowed clubs around the world with fierce intentions and rare skill, playing more decks than he has hands. He juggles, cuts, drops and chops at an alarming rate, but crucially never to the detriment of overall flow—Rivet is a passionate and driving spirit in the art of mixing.

His current and most adventurous excursion as label manager is the recently launched Kess Kill, which has the ambition “to continue the legacy started in the late ’70’s German new wave/post-punk movement.” Always keen to do his own thing and go his own way without working to a formula, Rivet is influenced by anything from Liaisons Dangereuses and Coil to Jeff Mills and Paul Johnson. “I love music that animates,” says the man who grew up listening to Bronski Beat and Boytronic before eventually becoming obsessed with jungle and UK hardcore in the ‘90s. The vast span of influences also explains the various pseudonyms he works under, such as Kovsh (Convex Industries) and the Ritual Malmö records.